Salou. Costa Dorada. 13 October 2019. When October 31 approaches, the Costa Dorada prepares to revive the memory of the deceased with two different festive expressions that live in unequal conditions: the Castañada and Halloween. The first, of long Catalan tradition, survives by resisting the onslaught and attraction that Halloween has, especially among youth. Therefore, municipalities such as Salou and Vila-seca have prepared a program of activities that combine more traditional acts of the Castañada with others in the purest Halloween style, while leisure centers such as PortAventura World or Parc Samà have decidedly opted for tradition American
Thus, to celebrate the memory of the dead on the Costa Dorada, the proposals are diverse and for different audiences, whether families or groups of friends. In the capital of the Costa Dorada, on October 31 Salou has prepared inflatables and a workshop for the production of panellets in Carrilet Square between 10.30am and 1pm. Xic'S club pets, Rocky and Confetina, will be present and invite attendees for a snack. In the afternoon, starting at 5pm, Piel de Gallina will offer an animated show entitled La Castañada and a popular chocolate bar will be served.
But at dusk, the Halloween aesthetic will seize Salou with a zombie parade through the streets of the municipality from 8pm, suitable for the whole family. Participants will star in a flash mob to the sound of the most famous zombie song from around the world: the Michael Jackson Thriller.
In Vila-seca, Halloween and Castañada also distribute papers and activities focus on the Espai Jove, which opens Monday through Friday from 5:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. During the month of October, various workshops are held on stories of fear, makeup, terrifying setting for lunches and / or dinners, gastronomic customs, among others. On October 31, a themed party will be held to put an end to this scary October.
Halloween: tourism and leisure
Undoubtedly, the Halloween celebration of October 31 has become a great attraction of tourism and leisure on the Costa Dorada, and many hotels, campsites and apartments of the territory are set and devise proposals to offer their customers experiences where fear And fun go hand in hand. This reminds us of the Federació d'Empresaris d'Hostaleria de Tarragona (FEHT), which brings together the business sector of accommodation and catering in the province of Tarragona and the tourism boards of the Diputación, Salou, Cambrils, Vila-seca and PortAventura World.
Among all the offer highlights the Parc Samà and PortAventura World. The first is a leisure center located on a large Indian farm of the nineteenth century in the municipality of Cambrils that this year has opted for a Halloween set in the Victorian era and very aimed at the family audience, with 3 passages of terror from 12 years, and a space for children's workshops for boys and girls from 7 to 12 years, all during daytime until 8pm. Dark Samà opens until November 10 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The greenhouse, the stables, the cellar or an old warehouse of Parc Samà are the spaces that will host these activities. Specifically, one of the passages of terror goes through a virtual reality tour through the night streets of Whitechapel in London and with the presence of Jack the Ripper as the protagonist; in another, a maze has been created, and in the third they invite the visitor to enter the cellar of Professor Abraham Van Helsing, where the victims of the vampires are housed.
Isla Maldita and Halloween at PortAventura World
The Halloween season is one of the most desired of the year at PortAventura World because of the park's ability to surprise year after year. Thus, this season has inaugurated the Isla Maldita, the longest terror passage in Europe, with 1 km of travel and 35 minutes of dread. In addition, the other terror passages opened in previous years are maintained: Mayan Apocalypse, [REC] Experience and Horror in Texas.
And all this without forgetting that PortAventura has a very familiar audience that you will find in Sesame Adventure a Halloween offer totally adapted to enjoy with the little ones of the house.
A celtic party
The party we celebrate as All Saints, as Castañada or as Halloween has its origin in a Celtic holiday of honor to the dead, which is celebrated on November 1 because it is when the darkest period of the year begins.
Christianity reconverted the celebration in the seventh century to honor the Virgin Mary and all the martyrs. In short, it is a party dedicated to the memory of ancestors in which thanks to Halloween, the custom of dressing up as scary characters and being scary has been introduced, while preserving the gastronomic tradition of eating chestnuts, moniates and panellets.
Chestnuts and moniates are typical products of autumn that before the arrival of the American potato had a lot of culinary presence to accompany meats or make creams. Historians believe that the tradition of eating chestnuts for All Saints derives from ancient funeral meals in which only legumes and nuts were served.
On the other hand, panellets are the other ingredient that cannot fail in any celebration of homage to the deceased. Made with almond flour, egg yolk and sugar, and sometimes with potatoes or moniates, it is believed that panellets are inheritance of ancient funeral services that consisted of bringing small breads as an offering to the church or to the graves of the deceased. For All Saints.
Both chestnuts and panellets are long-lasting foods, which link with the concept of eternity and remember the dead. That is why these products are preferably consumed on October 31 at night and on November 1, which is when there is the belief that the souls of the deceased visit us, while on November 2 it is the living who visit to the dead and worship their memory.
